Amira Hass on the Start of the UN Probe into Israeli War Crimes

Israeli Journalist Amira Hass on the Start of the UN's Probe into Possible Israeli War Crimes during Gaza War:

"The actions of the Israeli army during its twenty-two-day assault on the Gaza Strip earlier this year are back in the spotlight with the arrival of a United Nations delegation in Gaza this Monday. The fifteen-member team will be investigating possible war crimes and other violations of international law during Israel’s military assault. It’s headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, who was the former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Israel opposes the investigation and denied the delegation visas, forcing them to enter Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing.

Human rights groups and Palestinian officials say over 1400 Palestinians including over 900 civilians were killed in what Israel calls “Operation Cast Lead.” Israel disputes the figures claiming less than 300 civilian deaths. The Israeli Defense Forces-led investigation concluded last month that there was no evidence of serious misconduct by its troops.

I’m joined now by renowned Israeli journalist Amira Hass, a regular columnist for Israel"s Ha’aretz newspaper. She has spent several years living in and reporting from Gaza and the West Bank, the only Israeli journalist to do so, and returned to Gaza this year a few days after the official end of Israel"s assault. She spent the next four months living in Gaza, documenting accounts of the war and its aftermath.

Amira Hass, author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land under Siege and Reporting from Ramallah: An Israeli Journalist in an Occupied Land. Her latest book, out later this month from Haymarket Books, is a diary written by her mother, Hanna Levy-Hass, of surviving the notorious Nazi concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen. It’s called Diary of Bergen-Belsen, 1944-1945."



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